Topic: 7 players you’d have loved to see play for Liverpool

[rocco]

Henry
De Bruyne
Ronaldo ( before he went to United
Thiago Alcantara ( a fit one )
Maradona   
Messi

[Scottymuser]

’Boro, was absolutely gutted when we didn’t sign him that summer.

Is that just because you saw more of him - Juninho Pernabucano was, for me, a much better player at his peak for Lyons, not just because he is the best free kick taker in history, but because his play making was brilliant.  But we didn't see him as much as Paulista. 

There is a reason why Juninho Paulista, after 2 years at the Boro, never played consistently for a top team in another country (he went to Atletico and his 2 seasons there they finished 7th (when he didn't play much) and 13th (when he was a starter) before they got relagated) - and whilst part of that was because he had an injury in the lead up to the '98 WC, it wasn't the full reason.  Meanwhile, Juninho Perm was the best player in the best team in France for 7 straight seasons - taking a team that had never won Ligue 1 to 7 straight titles and reaching 3 QFs of the CL (knocking out Real Madrid twice).  They both had a similar number of caps for Brazil - but that was more a factor of era - Boro's Juninho was largely battling Zinho and Giovanni for the 2nd AM spot (alongside Rivaldo), whereas the mid 2000s Brazil had Kaka and Ronaldinho, so it was a lot harder to start the games.

[TheFinalBoss]

David Villa
Edinson Cavani
Radamel Falcao
Ribery
Robben
Luka Modric
Andrea Pirlo

[Crosby Nick]

Just to chuck another name into the mix, and we were never linked with him that I know of. But Rivaldo. Used to live watching him.

[Egyptian36]

Iniesta
Pirlo
Guti
Modric
Ronaldinho
Seedorf
Costa

You can tell the kind of players I like

[redan]

All from my time watching football from 93 onwards

Realistic

Henry (pre Arsenal)
David Silva (pre Man City)
Vieira (pre Arsenal)
Batistuta (pre Roma)
De Bruyne (pre Man City
Stam (pre Man United)
Zidane (pre Juventus)

Not so realistic
Ronaldo
Messi
Maldini

[The G in Gerrard]

Paolo Maldini
Thierry Henry
Juninho (Middlesbrough)
Batistuta
Ronaldo (Brazil)
Ronaldinho
Vieira

[The G in Gerrard]

’Boro, was absolutely gutted when we didn’t sign him that summer.

Agreed. He was brilliant. Remember he was close to going Villa and checking Teletext hoping we would jump in and get him.

[MH41]

This will obviously depend on our age. (And my choice will probably change daily, or when another poster mentions someone I had forgotten about)
I'm being realistic as well, going with players that were 'linked' with, and I was disappointed we didn't get.

In no particular order:
1. Charlie Nicholas (chose arsenal instead)
2. Derek Statham (WBA left back)
3. Roberto Baggio (can still see the teletext headline. He was too old by then though)
4. Des Walker.
5. Zidane (when with Bordeaux. Perhaps that is in hindsight, but definitely recall we were in for him)
6. Paulo Futre (what a player. Watched him one night destroy Scotland or Wales in the pouring rain in Portugal )
7. Alfonso - Real betis. The Spanish highlights. His signature white boots. Tremendously skilful player.

[Hestoic]

1. Pato
2. Rooney (gulp)
3. Aguero
4. David Silva
5. David Villa
6. Puyol
7. Reus

[Jookie]

Messi
Ronaldo
C.Ronaldo
Henry
Keane
Schmiechel
Ferdinand 

3 best attacking players I’ve ever seen

Henry is best PL player.

Bottom 3 would strengthen us massively and take loads away from United. Keane and Schmiecel may have been the difference in 90’s between us or United dominating. Added quality but maybe more importantly winning attitude. Lack of professionalism in squad in 90’s was the main issue. Those 2 players may have bridged the gap that Roy Evans weakness and some of the players lack of professionalism that appeared to hold us back.

[kesey]

Off the top of my head.

Zidane
Cantona
Henry
Keane

[Cu Chulainn]

Lionel Messi
Ronaldo Nazario
Thierry Henry
Alan Shearer
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Roy Keane
Paolo Maldini

[A-Bomb]

From those i've watched myself


Ronaldinho - who wouldn't, pure entertainer
Henry - he more like a horse, the sheer pace he had coupled with a phenomenal touch and technique
Batistuta - Just to watch him power in 30 yarders into the top corner.
Ronaldo - The original of course, combination of power, skill and composure - without his injuries, i'm sure he'd have posted some crazy numbers.

Keane - The most natural leader i've seen play the game
Xavi - he made keeping the ball and circulating it look like childs play.
Iniesta - again a phenomenally talented player with the ball at his feet.
Zidane - just oozed class, graceful with the ball - just seemed to stick to his boot, big game player.
Gazza - Early 90's he was such an exciting player, he was an exceptional dribbler of the ball.

Maldini - Was the best defender i'd seen play until VVD. However, Maldini's career was much much longer at the highest level.

And of course Messi.

[Kenny's Jacket]

Southall
Henry
Bale
Ronaldinho
Aimar
Klopp

[whtwht]

These were possibly realistic in my head.
Pavel Nedved
Rui Costa
Marcel Desailly
Oleksandr Zavarov
Thierry Henry
Alen Boksic
Patrick Viera

[whtwht]

This will obviously depend on our age. (And my choice will probably change daily, or when another poster mentions someone I had forgotten about)
I'm being realistic as well, going with players that were 'linked' with, and I was disappointed we didn't get.

In no particular order:
1. Charlie Nicholas (chose arsenal instead)
2. Derek Statham (WBA left back)
3. Roberto Baggio (can still see the teletext headline. He was too old by then though)
4. Des Walker.
5. Zidane (when with Bordeaux. Perhaps that is in hindsight, but definitely recall we were in for him)
6. Paulo Futre (what a player. Watched him one night destroy Scotland or Wales in the pouring rain in Portugal )
7. Alfonso - Real betis. The Spanish highlights. His signature white boots. Tremendously skilful player.

Good shout on Des Walker. Superb CB.

[Passmaster Molby]

Neville Southall
Paolo Maldini
Lionel Messi
Ronaldo 9
Michael Laudrup
Diego Maradona
Kevin De Bruyne

[Barneylfc∗]

Agreed. He was brilliant. Remember he was close to going Villa and checking Teletext hoping we would jump in and get him.

I found out on Teletext we were signing Markus Babbel. They had that Clubcall thing so I rang it and a pre recorded message from Houllier was played.

I shit myself and thought it was actually Ged picking up the phone and speaking to me so hung up in a panic 

Rang back again a couple of minutes later after calling myself a fucking idiot.

[red1977]

Hakan Mild
Gifton Noel-Williams
Terry Hurlock
Morten Gamst Pederson
Obafemi Martins
Stig Tofting
And of course, Stan Lazaridis.

[Kenny's Jacket]

I found out on Teletext we were signing Markus Babbel. They had that Clubcall thing so I rang it and a pre recorded message from Houllier was played.

I shit myself and thought it was actually Ged picking up the phone and speaking to me so hung up in a panic 

Rang back again a couple of minutes later after calling myself a fucking idiot.

Ive had 0898 calls take a similar vein

[deano2727]

Ronaldinho
David Villa
Maldini
Pirlo
Totti
Henry
Zidane

[Crosby Nick]

Ive had 0898 calls take a similar vein

You thought Gerard Houllier was working at Babestation?

[Henry Chinaski]

Messi
Henry
Bergkamp
Pirlo
Maldini
Baresi
Patrick Vieira

[Lee1-6Liv]

Alan Shearer
Ian Wright
Roy Keane
Sammer
Stoichkov
Hagi
Mattheus

[JRed]

Dalglish
Rush
Hansen
Fowler
Torres
Suarez
Gerrard

[JRed]

Michael Laudrup
Henry
Maradona
Viera
Roy Keane
Ronaldinho
Bergkamp

[Barneylfc∗]

Dalglish
Rush
Hansen
Fowler
Torres
Suarez
Gerrard

How young are you 

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Robert Tressel
H.G. Wells
Albert Einstein
Craig Charles
Tom Baker
Eric Arthur Blair
Aneurin Bevan

[JRed]

How young are you 

Ha. It just got me thinking of some of the world class players we’ve had.

[Terry de Niro]

We were in to sign Frank Worthington, but he failed a medical due to high blood pressure [largely because of his partying lifestyle] so Shanks sent him to Majorca for a week for health reasons [one of the worst things Shanks did given Frank Worthington's lifestyle, even in the early 70s Majorca had a reputation as a party place], Frank Worthington returned with even higher blood pressure so the transfer fell through.

And a dose.

[Keith Lard]

Putting aside the obvious legends, we so could have signed these players if we hadn’t been ran so badly at times in the 90s and noughties:
 
Georgi Hagi - so fucking cool. I loved this guy so much. Romania’s greatest

Abedi Pele - Ghana and Marseille legend. Loved watching this dude. And he has Pele in his name lol

Marcelo Salas - Chile legend, cool asf

Jose Luis Chilavert - penalty-taking goalkeeping Paraguayan beast. Would have been fun watching him take pens for us

Kazu Miura - Japanese legend

Rai - underrated Brazilian beast, PSG’s rock before they become a Qatari plaything

Enzo Scifo - Belgian wizard and loved his name

[Brian Blessed]

Henry.

And the David Villa posts got me thinking, were we not heavily linked with Aguero for quite some time? He chose the money of course, but he would have been a legend for us.

[kesey]

Nobody else has said Cantona ?

[alonsoisared]

He's an interesting one Kesey. Too young to remember him play but from what I've seen in terms of his personality, arrogance etc would he have been a good fit for us? Great player obviously.

As for Aguero, I think we were linked but never more than speculation. As much a catalyst as Cantona was for United, he was probably the same for city.

[The G in Gerrard]

I found out on Teletext we were signing Markus Babbel. They had that Clubcall thing so I rang it and a pre recorded message from Houllier was played.

I shit myself and thought it was actually Ged picking up the phone and speaking to me so hung up in a panic 

Rang back again a couple of minutes later after calling myself a fucking idiot.

[Black Bull Nova]

Michael Essien
Socrates
Luigi Riva
Tony Currie
Eden Hazard
Cyrille Regis
Kenny Burns



and


Jari Litmanen, Erik Meijeir (more that is)

[Jwils21]

Although it's a much smaller sample size, there's a significant drop off between the quality of the names mentioned in here and that of the current crop of active players.